swim team wrap up, a little late

Way back at the end of June, we had the divisionals meet for swim team. This was at a super crazy time for me, and I just hope I haven't forgotten too much of it since I'm writing this so late.

We had just had Lexie's birthday party the night before, and Kevin had left early in the morning for a week in Arkansas for high adventure with the young men. Lucky I had my sister-in-law and brother in town and they watched the two little kids, so I just had Halli and Peyton at the meet.

That was very much appreciated!

It was an indoor meet, in a much bigger pool (slightly longer, and more lanes) than the kids were used to swimming in.

Halli was only competing in three events, the backstroke, freestyle and butterfly. She was super close to qualifying for all-stars in the freestyle and this was her last chance.

And I'm proud to say that she pulled it off, and qualified. She was SO excited when she got out of the pool and they told her her time. She wanted more than anything to call her dad and tell him good news, and she got to do just that.

I had a hard time this year trying to find that fine line between pushing your kids, and letting them just have fun with it. Halli was having fun, and she's still young, but I knew she could be doing better than she was. I just didn't want her to be disappointed and not enjoy any of it because she didn't make a certain time, but I also want her to have a sense of accomplishment from doing this.

I know when she's older it'll be easier to really push her, but at only 7 years old, that's a tough call. Ultimately though, no matter what you do, it's really up to them.

She's become an old pro with swim team, we have SO much fun with this sport and are so incredibly happy that we were able to start when we did! It requires alot of time, but is it so very worth it all!

Peyton did awesome for her first year of swim team. She swam the whole length of the pool without holding onto the lane line, and that's huge for a 4 year old. We're so proud that she did it, and can't wait to see her improve in the coming years.

Divisionals was a little tough for her. Another girl false-started, and it freaked her out, so she was crying when she started the race, and I think the whole thing just intimidated her. But she finished, and looked cute doing it!

I didn't take any pictures of the all-stars meet, Kevin was still out of town, and I had all four kids with me this time, so the last thing I needed was a huge ol' camera to lug around too. Halli was able to do her freestyle as well as one of the relays. She did great, and it was in the same pool as divisionals so that helped a little bit too. We loved being able to watch her this year, and can't wait to do it all again next year!

Brittany's {Born to Ride} Baby Shower

Brittany is my little sister. Two years ago, when she was pregnant with her daughter, my sister-in-law and my mom and I threw her a baby shower. Jill and I flew out to California just for her shower...her water broke the morning we flew out there.

Here it is two years later, and we decided to throw her shower a little earlier this time to avoid the whole water-breaking-having-a-baby-shower-in-the-hospital thing. Unfortunately baby boy didn't get the memo, and her water broke three days before the shower.

Everything worked out fine in the end, her son Mason was a preemie, born at 34 weeks and after two weeks in nicu came home healthy and happy. So before my mom flew back home, we put on the baby shower a little later than intended, and with a special baby guest in attendance.

Brittany's husband rides dirtbikes, so it was only natural that we had a motorcycle themed baby shower.

I had so much fun with this shower, and the fact that it was done right around the fourth of July made the color scheme pretty easy!

We had some super fun and yummy motorcycle chocolate molds. These were a hit and my kids especially loved them. One of the perks/downfalls of being the hostess, you get to keep all the left over sweets at home. My kids love that part, my waistline, not so much.

How perfect was this sign that I found at hobby lobby? We'd actually already decided on the colors when I found it, so it was just meant to be!

The little guys stats from when he was born, he was a pretty big boy for only 34 weeks!

No laughing at this next photo, alright?

These are my very sad attempt at chocolate covered oreos. In case you can't tell, they're supposed to be wheels. The did not in any way turn out like I had pictured them in my head, but they still tasted great!

The dessert table, with some photos of the man of the hour. Such a sweet little guy!

I made some bags to take home sweets in. You have to make them nice and big so people can load them up with lots of goodies.

Mason's banner, made in the shape of they Harley-Davidson sign.

And some more decor for the party.

When you have a motorcycle themed shower, you have to have root beer and pretzels, chocolate covered of course.

This photo actually shows the wrapped nuggets, but the pretzels were on the other side.

My sister-in-law came up with a fun game of guessing the motorcycle throughout the years, it was way harder than I thought it would be. But those are some pretty cool looking bikes!

I took the pictures too early, and thus, none of the new mom. But she was beaming and happy to finally be home and relaxing with her new baby boy. He's a doll, and we love having him here!

Fathers day

I'm going to jump back in time a little bit here and try to catch up on everything I've missed this summer. I've been a bad blogger, and I'm blaming summer fun, and summer of seals for my laziness!:)

Way back in june, we got to celebrate one amazing man.

Dad, or Kevin, or Daddy, or whatever we may feel like calling him that particular day.

We had a delish breakfast, but it was quick cause he had meetings and had to get out the door. The kids all made him cards, and I made him a book that the kids all helped me fill out.

He didn't open it when I first gave it to him, and when I asked why, he said that it was because he thought it was just a book I bought at the store. I'll take that as a compliment.:)

We had so much fun filling it out and answering the questions. Such a fun and easy gift!

Halli wrote her own answers, bad spelling and 2nd grade handwriting, I love it.

We also got each of the kids handprints.

I loved Peyton and Lexie's answers, these kids are such crack ups.

Even JJ had a little page or two.

The best part was that shutterfly had a sale, so I got the book for free, and just paid shipping!:)

We adore that man of ours, and wish he could be home lots more so that we could just play with him all the time. For now, we'll just have to soak up what we can get though, and take lots of pictures to remember it all.

One

Somehow, it actually happened, and I can't believe it.

Our little man turned one. You'd think I'd be used to this, we've done it three times. But it still felt like it snuck up on me.

We celebrated all week. We had cake for pictures, we had cupcakes on his birthday, and we had cake yet again at his birthday party. We like our sweets around this part!:)

He is such a happy, squishy, huggable little guy. I just don't know what we'd do without him.

He took his first steps about a week before his birthday, and this past week, at 12.5 months, he's officially walking everywhere. Such a bittersweet time. I love watching my babies grow up, and get more independent, but I hate it all at the same time. Watching him waddle around the house made me kinda sad that I won't see him crawling anymore, and I've NEVER been sad to see the crawling stage end.

He gives sweet, slobbery kisses. He loves anything with buttons, he LOVES to be held, (and at 25lbs, that gets old quick), he adores his sisters, and when he gets really happy he smiles and squints so much that his eyes are basically closed....sweetest thing ever!

Happy birthday little JJ, we are so incredibly in love with you!